Javier Bardem

Gotham Tribute

Bardem hadn’t heard of the Gotham Awards prior to news of his tribute, but he promises, “I’ll be there.”

This year, auds will have seen him go from totally love-struck, in “Love in the Time of Cholera,” to soft-spoken agent of the Spanish Inquisition, in “Goya’s Ghosts,” to an icon of death, in “No Country for Old Men.”

“It’s a coincidence, all these films coming out at the same time. Which is good,” says Bardem. “It’s a way to show my work, and it’s nice that they are quite different from each other. I’m happy about it.”

The actor had a month break between “No Country” and “Cholera,” and he enjoyed the challenge of making the switch from a character who hates to one who loves. “In my body I was feeling the fickleness of pulling that out of me and bringing in just the opposite,” he says of the emotional range. “That’s what I love about this job. Because now I’m forced to see the world with different eyes, the opposite eyes.”